Thompson Contender
by Unlimited Blade Works
Summary: Tracking my father all over the Capital Wasteland taught me how to survive, how to thrive, in hostile situations. I learned skills and techniques necessary to keep me alive, I'm still searching even now but I'll find him...eventually. Regretfully I ended up like those Talon Company assholes in order to make a living, I'm a mercenary now. Death is my business, and business is good.


**Thompson Contender  
**

**Chapter One: Happy Trails**

**Authors Note-**

This has been sitting half complete on my computer for around year now. After watching the Book of Eli again I figured I might as well finish it off.

I'm not sure if I'll continue this or not, I've already got a hell of a lot of other stories on the go after all.

This story hasn't been gone over by my Beta and I don't think it will be for awhile if ever, should I decide to continue then I will most likely have him go over this but until then you're just going to have to settle for me.

And now...On with the show, please enjoy.

**Story Start-**

My body is being shaken awake, since I haven't punched whoever is doing this in the face yet I suppose it can only be two people, Amata or Dad. I suppose Jonas should really be on that list as well but he knows better than to try and wake me up while actually touching me. Oh right you don't know me do you well I suppose I could give you at the very least a quick run down.

My name? Well lets just say my parents, as much as I love them, didn't have the greatest naming sense in the world. My name is Leonard, go ahead make any jokes or Big Bang theory references you want, chances are I've heard them all by now and on that note I'm just glad they didn't decide to call me Sheldon.

Age Nineteen and counting, also if you're young and reading this, and you really shouldn't be, then I want you to remember something very important for me. First you probably want to get older right? Hurry up and be all big and grown up like Mummy and Daddy right? Sad news for you kid, I was in your place once and now that I'm here let me tell you. This shit is not what I expected, anyway where was I?

Oh right.

About me, well I'm roughly a hundred and sixty seven centimetres tall and weigh about sixty kilos. I say roughly as I haven't had a check up in awhile, hmm I should probably get onto that Dad's kind of anally retentive about things like that. As for hobbies, well there is a reason that most people do not have the balls to wake me up by shaking me.

Doing that to a somewhat paranoid, if understandably paranoid, and who wouldn't be with the amount of shit Butch DeLoria has tried to pull over the years, Eskrima practitioner is a bad idea. Most people don't even know that the Vault has self defence video's that you can learn from, God knows I didn't and from the way I've seen Vault security swing around their nightsticks I'd say they don't either. I found a sparring partner in Amata so learning wasn't to difficult. I like to think that I'm fairly good at what I do, I've beaten the ever living shit out of the Tunnel Snakes more than once so I think that I'm doing okay.

No point in talking about my choice of clothing, after all all I've ever wore were Vault 101 jumpsuits and Vault Tech approved footwear. We live in the Vault we die in the Vault and all that associated bullshit. But I kind of feel like we've gotten off topic why was I telling you this again? Hell what got be on this subject in the first place? Oh right I'm being shaken awake by someone who has more balls than most of the Vault put together. My green-grey eyes open and I look up at the person above me.

Female, a fairly well sculpted face, brown eyes with tears gathering in them, oh that wasn't good. I didn't exactly have many friends, as in all I had was Amata, so seeing her cry was something I had always tried to avoid. If Butch and his buddies were responsible for this I wouldn't just put them in the Hospital ward for a few days like I did the last time they tried this shit, I would put them there for a full year if I could pull it off. Considering how good Dad is at caring for people I doubt I'd manage the full year, I would definitely try for it though you know give it my best shot and all that jazz. Sure The Overseer would have my ass for it, Christ only knows why but Amata's father never liked me, but I could live through being chewed out again. Oh fuck more moisture was gathering in Amata's eyes that wasn't good, maybe a joke would help?

"Funny my dream had you in it as well, any chance we could continue?" Okay it was a bad joke, but I'm sleepy and couldn't think of anything better so sue me. Amata gives a half sob half laugh at my words, well at least it seemed to help a little.

"This isn't the time for jokes you idiot!" She choked out, more tears came into her eyes. That was it! Butch was fucking dead! "Your Dad, he left the Vault!" Amata said her voice breaking as she did so. My mind shut down, what did she just say? Dad left the Vault? Why? Why the fuck would he do that!? All that was out there were irradiated ruins and monsters, or at least that is what the all mighty Overseer had told us.

Note the sarcasm in that last sentence.

"What! Why!" My response is probably the cliché question but it needed to be asked, still it was probably pointless asking Amata. How was she supposed to know after all, it was probably just shock that made me do that, didn't stop it from being a stupid question though.

"How am I supposed to know?!" My old friend, my only friend, asked back. Her voice raising to the level of hysterical as her breathing sped up. "Are you telling me that you don't know why he left either!?" Amata demanded, more tears spilling from her eyes.

"No I, I didn't know he was planning anything like this." I replied, I...I had no idea why, why would he do this? Amata looked down at me for a second before turning away silent sobs racking her frame, I was to shocked to notice. If I was a decent excuse for a human being I would probably be trying to comfort her right now and be taking my head out of my ass, but I never claimed to be something I'm not. "We need to find Jonas, if anyone would know anything about this it would be him." I stated after a second, that much was true. Getting out of the Vault was not a one man job Jonas would have to be in on it and that meant if I wanted answers I needed to find Jonas, Amata's shoulders shook harder at my statement.

"Jonas is dead." She choked out, my mind shut down again as my blood boiled. Anger suffusing me down to my very soul and then suddenly the feeling of overwhelming rage and the desire to destroy was replaced, not gone but replaced. What found its way into my soul mere seconds after finding out the man I looked up to as an older brother was dead was clarity. Ice cold, calm and utterly ruthless clarity. "Officer Mack, he thought that Jonas was helping your Dad. That he helped him escape the Vault, they, they beat him and they just didn't stop and then Jonas was dead!" Amata managed to sob out, the ice cold clarity remained. I got off of the bed and wrapped Amata in a hug, her own arms sliding around my own waist like iron vices, almost cracking my ribs. The pain didn't matter, Officer Mack was a dead man. Amata pulled back, tears still in her eyes.

"If they find you then they'll kill you as well, you need to get somewhere safe and the only safe place for you now is out of here!" She told me tears in her eyes, the clarity remained as my ice cold mind examined my options with a dispassionate logic more that would be more appropriate in a machine instead of a man. If I stayed in the Vault I would need to kill a lot of people, starting with Officer Mack and chances were I would die. The other option was leave the Vault and try my luck with whatever was out on the surface, find my father and then beat the ever living shit out of him for doing this. It was obvious that the second answer was the one I would take, though I would still be killing Officer Mack on the way out.

"I need to leave." It was a simple statement, inside the mind made of ice it was an easy thing to say. Amata immediately nodded, it was something that I had always admired about my childhood friend she had the ability to not only think on her feet but also see the best answer regardless of how much she disliked it personally.

"I know," She stated before pulling a few things off her Vault Tech approved jumpsuit. The first was a Vault Tech made and issued ten millimetre handgun with a spare clip. It looked like it was in disrepair but it was still functional. Still I could probably scavenge some parts on the way out to make it work better, I had always been good with my hands after all.

While Dad had been one for medicine I was better at working with machines, repairing things and building new stuff was like second nature to me. It was one of the reasons that I had been assigned to the maintenance department, for the record they were a bunch of morons who only did things by the book. There were dozens of ways to do things better but no 'there are rules there are regulations even if your solution is better we can't use'...sorry got a little carried away there.

Next came a set of bobby pins, that was unsurprising. We'd been using bobby pins to pick locks for years now, it was how the two of us had found that old stash of self defence videos and where I had found an unused room to practice firing a gun in, though I suspect Dad knew that I occasionally used one of the guns that he kept under his bed. After all even if I replaced the ammo I did still tune them up, if he practised with them regularly, and I had no reason to believe he didn't, then the difference should have become apparent pretty quickly.

"Take these and go to my fathers office, if you can hack his computer it will give you access to an underground passage that will take you to the Vault door, it should also have the password to open the door so make sure you remember that!" Amata said quick holding out the offered items, I took the bobby pins but not the gun. She would probably need that, while I doubted that the Overseer would ever harm his precious daughter Officer Mack may well be a different story and I wouldn't have my only friend in any more danger than she had to be.

"Keep the gun, don't worry I'll be fine now go." Amata looked conflicted before nodding and running off into the dank passage ways of Vault 101. My old friend knew just how stubborn I was, she wasn't going to waste precious time arguing with me when my life was at stake. I breathed in deep and pulled on my Vault Tech issued shoes, I had only been taking a nap so thankfully I was still fully clothed. The first thing I grabbed was a bag, a long canvas bag it was probably about a meter in length and fifteen to twenty centimetres in diameter a drawstring at the top that would let me hang it around my arm most notably allowing me to make a noose and tie it around my armpit.

The first thing that went into it was the medical supplies that I had in my room, five Stimpacks, a couple of rolls of bandages and three injectors of MedX that could be used as a pain killer if push came to shove. I grabbed a pair of sticks off of the table in front of me, they hadn't been easy to make, I had to whittle them down from a pair of baseball bats and let me tell you that was harder than it sounded, the two were around seventy centimetres long each with a rounded point on each end, or at least there used to be a rounded point on each end.

Jamming the two of them under the bed and twisting violently lost me five centimetres of stick but replaced that rounded end with a sharp point. Turning the two Eskrima practice sticks into deadly weapons. Next up was the other stuff I needed before leaving, I threw the bag over my shoulder and quickly found my way into my fathers room my hand reaching under the bed and drawing out an old wooden case.

It was made of Oak as well as I could figure, a circle around a stylised T and C was on the front of the box. I quickly snapped the lock off, not bothering to use the bobby pins for this, right now I needed to be fast not quiet. The lock snapped with the sound of metal rending and the box was quickly opened, inside was a gun I knew very well. A heavy grip wrapped in old well worn leather with a long barrel and the same T and C logo on the side of the metal that supported the barrel. This was a gun I knew very well. My fathers old Thompson Contender, the .44 Magnum was gone, I guess he really had left. My hand raced out quickly picking up the gun and with a practised hand trigged the release and quickly loaded one of the seven .30-06 Springfield bullets into the guns single chamber before snapping it closed again.

I swear the gun was already customised to use those before I started to tinker with it...really.

That was the unfortunate part about the Contender, while it fired really big bullets it only fired one at a time before you needed to reload. I stood up, alarms began to blear around me well who knew maybe that would make my job easier.

"Attention all residence of Vault 101 please return to your quarters, everything is under control. Please return to your quarters while our security team handles the problem, everything is under control." The sound of the Overseers voice, Amata's fathers voice, echoed over the PA system. I focused a little I could hear the sound of running coming towards me and lay flat on my stomach, body carefully hidden by the bed. Heavy boots, it wasn't Amata, that meant it was most likely Vault security, hopefully it wasn't Officer Gomez I didn't want to have to kill him hell I actually like the guy.

With a hiss the door to the room opens and a I hear someone growl and turn to leave, it seems that since he couldn't see anyone whoever was there just planned to up and leave. I rose from my prone position, the Contender held firmly in my grasp, the gun came up at the back of a member of Vault securities head and I pulled the trigger. The roar of gun fire could be heard for a brief second as the man fell to the floor in a spray of blood, I should feel horrified by what I've done.

I don't.

I feel nothing but apathy for the man I just killed, a small amount of horror begins to form in my mind. The ice around my emotions ruthlessly crushes it, no its not ice, it's to solid to be ice. My anger had changed into solid steel. My body moved on auto-pilot hands quickly but surely popping open the Contender and removing the spent bullet before loading another and tucking the gun into my belt. The steel around my mind does not so much as shudder as I strip the man bare and take his clothes and weapons, one ten millimetre pistol and a night stick before tucking both into my bag which I place over my shoulders so it hangs in the middle of my back. Chances are that armour is going to come in handy outside so I may as well take it with me, I make plans to take everything not nailed down on my way out.

That was simply practicality, though I have no doubt the fact that I am not currently feeling horror at the fact I plan to kill each and every member of Vault security that I find and take their possessions from their still warm corpses is because of the steel. I was always hard and cynical bastard but that was heartless even for me, I guess things like this change a person I wonder who I'll be once this is all over?

I shrugged the question off, it doesn't matter in the slightest. If I get out of this alive I can think about it, for now however I just need to focus on the job at hand, nothing else. My body moves on auto-pilot as I stalk out of the small set of rooms that I had shared with my father, chances are Vault security would shoot me on sight but standing still and putting that armour on would take to long I needed to leave, now.

My feet were light, as if I were gliding over the iron floors of Vault 101, the sound of the recorded message played over and over again, masking my sounds. I had found my first Rad Roach a few minutes ago, it turns out that if you stab a sharp piece of wood through their backs they die almost instantly, easier than shooting them with a BB Gun that's for sure. The sound of a blunt object could be heard from up ahead, Vault security, no one else should be dumb enough to be outside of their rooms at a time like this. Well except me, but considering what's going on I don't really count. I rounded the corner both sticks in my hands I saw the member of Vault security at the same time he saw me.

The man was dressed in their usual fashion, body armour and a helmet, not that it would help him much, the nightstick came down at my collar bone and my left stick rose. The sound of wood hitting metal echoed as I pushed the nightstick away. My counter attack was the final move of our little life and death battle, my right stick stabbed into the soft flesh of his elbow joint ruining the man's right arm, the man screamed. Bright red blood painted the ground as the stick was withdrawn, the left stick came back in and pierced his throat cutting of the scream of pain as the man fell in a pool of blood, I still felt nothing.

Pulling everything off his body but the helmet should have repulsed me, it didn't. Well I suppose it doesn't matter, getting out alive is worth far more to me right now. Another flight of the same metal stairs, funny only now while the emergency lights flash and those same old tired messages play over the PA system can I appreciate how fucking loud these things really are when traversed at speed. Still my pack is half full now, that meant that I had to limit myself from now on. Only take one or two more pieces of Security armour and then simply stick to weapons and medical supplies. They were at least easy to carry and wouldn't take up much room, I hope.

The Contender in my waistband starts threatening to pull my pants down, you know what the first thing I'm buying when I get out of here. Assuming civilisation and people to buy from actually exist outside the Vault. Is a fucking holster for the damn thing, sure the Contender was a good gun but I kind of like walking, or running as the case may be, without the threat of pants falling down around my ankles. I push my legs harder and race into another room, three rad roaches one corpse, Old Lady Palmer unless I miss my guess. I am not looting her body, I have to draw the line somewhere and having to see her wrinkled old unmentionables once I take off her Vault suit to sell later crosses that line...what?

Too soon?

My right stick comes down in a vicious over hand chop, smashing through the exoskeleton of the Rad Roach in one hit and spraying its insides over a near by coffee table. I do not envy whoever has to clean that up, unfortunately however this seems to be where my good luck runs out. Another Rad Roach jumps carving a long bloody furrow into my thigh with one of its legs, my response is to crush its skull with a kick from my unwounded left leg. My left stick swings out nailing the final Rad Roach in the abdomen killing it almost instantly, but the damage has already been done. I don't have the time to fix myself up right now so I'm going to have to settle for some roughly executed field surgery.

Those Self Defence Vids were not the only thing Amata and I had found in those old rooms after all. Add that to all the small, and not so small, things I had learned from Dad over the years and chances were I could actually pass as a Battlefield Medic if push came to shove, I still didn't trust myself to take out bullets though so I guess I should avoid being shot. Okay that just sounded moronic, of course I should avoid being shot. It didn't take me long to grab a Stimpack and stab it into my leg, a quick shot of MedX came shortly after. Stimpacks worked by speeding up the cell division, somehow, in order to heal up the wound.

Which is why its a bad Idea to use one if a bullet is in the wound, nine times out of ten the bullet would be pushed out as the skin regrew and the wound healed up but every now and then one could be trapped under the newly grown skin, at least theoretically I had never actually seen it happen after all, or seen a bullet wound for that matter. If I stayed still for five minutes I would be fine, problem was that I didn't have five minutes. I had to move so the pain had to be dulled, hence the MedX injection.

It didn't take me long to hit the next level and let me tell you I hit the ground running. I could hear someone yelling from inside one of their rooms, wasn't sure exactly who but considering the sound of the voice and the insults that it was screaming at me as I ran past chances were it was Allan Mack, never did like that pompous bastard and believe me that feeling was mutual. My eyes narrowed as I saw Butch running towards me seemingly in a panic, surprisingly enough even with the steel around my mind I didn't want to kill him, well okay maybe I did even if it was only a little. Still the fact that I didn't want to kill him didn't stop me from whipping my left stick up and across his face hard enough to snap the sick in half, you know what that felt so good that I didn't even mind loosing one of my weapons. The fact that Butch's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell down like a puppet with his strings cut certainly helped me feel that way.

A scream came from further down the hall, from the DeLoria family quarters funnily enough. It sounded like his mother, huh maybe Butch had wanted my help with that particular problem. Wow now he almost felt bad about smashing him over the face with a hard ash stick, almost. Almost meaning that smashing the bastard over the head was still totally worth it. Another scream, the vault dweller cursed, damn my hero complex. My legs pumped harder as I raced down towards the sound of the screams, the door to Butch's room quickly opening, three Rad Roaches, the last remaining stick came down crushing the first ones skull, a vicious kick shattered the exoskeleton of another killing it instantly. The final Rad Roach was killed when I punched it into a near by wall, for the record Rad Roach guts is not a pleasant smell. I figured that you might like to know that, you know just in case the fact they were called Rad Roaches wasn't a big enough give away that they were generally disgusting as fuck.

I didn't bother to listen to Mrs DeLoria's words of thanks, my body was already out the door as soon as I had finished putting down the Rad Roaches, I had a lot of shit trying to kill me already no way in hell was I giving any of it time to catch up. My sneakers pounded against the cat walk as I rushed towards one of the upper levels main rooms, unfortunately I couldn't cut around this one and even more unfortunately it had a door that led straight to the front door of the Vault. Which meant there would be Security guarding it, I'd passed Officer Gomez on the way up, he Stanley and Andy had all killed a bunch of Rad Roaches before I got there and simply stood aside and let me pass. That was as good as all them telling me they were on my side as far as I was concerned, or maybe the fact that half my suit was covered in other peoples blood scared them off, nah they were good people so it was probably the former.

The stairs opened out into a large open room, I know from experience that the first door way on my left led straight to the Vault door. Unfortunately there's no way to sneak past it so if there were guards stationed there, and if Security Chief Hannon was half way competent there would be. That being said considering how badly trained Vault Security seemed to be Hannon being called competent, ever, was quickly coming into question.

I throw my stick up catching it quickly in my left hand and drawing the Contender with my right. I only had one shot at this, to bad I didn't have a grenade that would have come in really handy right now. Actually now that I think about it I never did see a grenade when I broke into the Security store rooms or the Armoury to steal back Ammo for the Contender and the Magnum, well I suppose that made sense. After all what exactly would you need a grenade for down here anyway?

My body moved spinning past the opening to the hallway, it seemed I was right two guards. The Contender roared, the .30-06 Springfield bullet racing down the barrel to rest in one of the guards brains. Thankfully only one of them was carrying a ten millimetre pistol and the other one a nightstick or else this might have gotten messy for me. I dropped the Contender, it would only get in the way once we got up close and personal.

My body carried me forwards left hand lashing out with a stick strike to my opponents head only to be met half way by a frenzied swing by the guard. Our weapons locked, that was fine. I stepped in close, right hand coming up and grabbing his wrist in a firm hold and twisting violently breaking the lock between our weapons and putting him off balance. My left arm whipped up in between up and pushed into his elbow forcing the arm to bend and his right hand meet his chest. I moved in using my body to limit his movement options before stepping my left leg behind his and driving forward taking him to the ground, the second we hit the cold metal I was already moving, my right arm pulled back giving me room to move before I stabbed the stick of my no longer locked up left hand into his throat. The man thrashed around for a second before going still, I stood and pulled the stick out of the man's throat only to curse, it had broken half way up.

I sighed, discarding the now useless weapon before grabbing the dead man's nightstick and flicking it open, it was about the same size as my stick, it would do. Personally I would have liked to start using a ten millimetre pistol as well but there were problems when it came to that. Mostly the fact that the magazines wouldn't fit into my pocket unlike the remaining five bullets for the Contender meaning once I was out of bullets for the pistol I'd have to open my pack to reload instead of just reaching into my pocket.

Speaking of which, I bend down and snatch the gun up before popping it open and quickly remove the now empty shell before loading in a new bullet, five shots left. The other guards ten millimetre pistol gets thrown into my pack while the other nightstick I had inside gets pulled out, now I'm back at two I actually feel a little better. Why didn't I think of this before? Ah screw it, I guess even with my mind as clear and cold as it was at that moment it still wasn't enough to think of everything. Despite knowing it was probably going to be fruitless I tried the door, it was locked, I suppose it doesn't matter I was expecting that.

My run through my, soon to be former, home continued, Rad Roaches were dispatched with one or two hits of my nightsticks and I had been given no reason to draw my Contender again just yet. Hopefully it stayed that way, I had precious few bullets as it was and using more of them was not something I wanted to do. Rounding another corner I stopped, my body froze even the steel felt like it was cracking around my mind.

Jonas was laying on the floor, it was only his lab jacket that let me know it was him. Jonas face was a mess, it seemed like whoever had killed Jonas had actually reduced some of his bones to little more than splinters, his head was surrounded by a large puddle of blood. I don't know when but my legs gave out and I crawled towards the corpse of the man who I looked up to as an older brother. The steel fractured again, straining to breaking point. Emotions began to come back again, regret, fear, anger, despair, hate, sadness. A swirl of emotions that the steel had barely been able to hold back began to become apparent once more.

The sound of boots on the metal brought me partly back to reality, I looked at Jonas once more his hand was gripping something like it was a life line. I pried his hand open, it was a small voice recording addressed to me from my father, I slipped it into the backpack before standing. The steel closed in around my mind again and the clarity returned bringing with it the feeling of terrible fury.

I stood, my body coming up in one smooth motion and I flowed forward across the floor as Security Chief Hannon rounded the corner. My right nightstick whipped through the air at his head, encased in a helmet or not if that hit he would feel it. His own nightstick came up and deflected my blow, he was better than his underlings but not by much. My left nightstick whipped in and hit his collar bone getting a strangled cry out of the man. The right snaked back in and slammed into the left side of Hannon's neck, a wet snapping sound signified the breaking of some of the fragile bones in the side of his neck. The left nightstick flicked back up cracking Hannon across the jaw and forcing him to spit out blood before the right moved back in bashing the man in his stomach. Hannon kneeled down my left arm wrapped around his neck and dragged the man back up before I shattered his wind pipe with a hard blow from the pommel of my right stick and dropped the soon to be corpse on the floor, the rage faded as I walked onwards towards the Overseer's office.

Yes walked, I could hear voices coming from up ahead. One was Amata's and the other was her fathers, the maniac that had probably ordered Jonas killed. The final voice belonged to someone that I knew I would kill before I left, Officer Mack. My knees bent down low so I could avoid the window while I listened in on the conversation, well interrogation really, within.

"Please Amata tell us where your friend is." The sound of Alphonse Almodovar, the Overseer, voice came through, I risked a look into the room. The Overseer and Officer Mack had their backs to me while Amata looked towards the window but hadn't noticed me yet.

"Why do you want to see him, he has nothing to do with it!" She replied, I could make out tears on her face. A part of me wanted to walk into the room and kill everyone inside except Amata but I didn't. Regardless of how much I hated Alphonse at that moment I didn't want to kill Amata's father in front of her. Officer Mack however was fair game, just as soon as she was gone.

"I understand that Amata, that is why I want to find him so I can talk to him about it." The Overseer explained in a reasonable voice, he was quite the actor. If I didn't already know about Jonas, if I hadn't seen his corpse, I might have even believed it. "Please tell me where he is Amata, Officer Mack may enjoy this but I don't."

"NO! After what happened to Jonas how can I possibly trust you with his life!" Amata shot back, from the way the Overseer's posture sunk when she said that he had obviously resigned himself to something.

"Very well then, Officer Mack please get the information from her but be gentle about it." He ordered causing Mack to stalk forward his nightstick beside him.

"Come on then girly tell me what you know I don't want to have to hurt you." Mack stated as Amata walked away, her hand grasped behind her before pulling out a ten millimetre handgun.

"NO! Stay away from me!" She cried out, each word being accented by a shot from the gun. Each and every bullet finding a new home in Officer Mack's stomach. My face drained of blood, oh no. OH NO! Amata started to hyperventilate even as Mack's lifeless corpse fell to the floor and didn't move.

"AMATA WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Her father cried out in shock as Amata herself ran for the door.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She called back running for her quarters, I followed ignoring stealth entirely as well as the curse from the Overseer from within the room as I stood up and raced after my friend. When I found her she was just staring at the wooden table in front of her with a lost and broken expression on her face. That didn't surprise me very much, the steel surrounding my mind was born of anger and hate as well as the desire to know why my father left, why he caused all this. I doubted it would ever leave until I found that out, Amata however she didn't have that wall of steel protecting her from what she had just done as I did.

My arms reached out and simply hugged my oldest friend, though I did position myself so that I could shoot anyone who came through the door. We simply stayed like that for a few minutes, Amata just stayed then she didn't speak simply leaned in slightly before pushing away and holding out the pistol.

"Please take it," She said her voice starting to regain some semblance of emotion. "I, I just don't know what I'd do if I still had it and my Dad found me." I didn't argue, I just took the gun and hugged her one more time.

"Thank you for everything Amata." My words only got a small smile and a wave of her hand as if shooing me away. I didn't bother to stick around and just walked across the corridor to the door to the Overseer's office. They really needed to update the locks it didn't take him more than a few seconds to pick the lock and get inside, really you think they would use an electronic lock that scanned the Overseer's finger prints or something. That was really a major design oversight, if whoever designed this was still alive and I was in charge of Vault Tech someone would be getting fired over this.

Hacking the computer didn't take much longer than picking the lock did, the Overseer had set his password as Amata. Unimaginative maybe, but at least it proved that he thought about her more than he made out that he did. There were a fair few files that I would have liked to read but didn't have the time to so I had to settle for uploading them all to my PipBoy to be viewed later.

The secret exit that Amata had told me about was under the Overseers desk, the thing got raised up on metal legs before a staircase revealed itself as the floor pulled back. It was very old school in an evil overlord kind of way. More Rad Roaches, they died quickly before I found the way out a removable wall that led straight to the front door of the Vault, a gigantic door with the number 101 emblazoned on the front. I hit the release button and activated the lazer that would unseal the door, warning lights went off, I ignored them Amata came out of the secret passage as the alarm went off, a box that was around thirty centimetres by thirty centimetres in her hands.

"You actually opened it." She said with awe in her voice, I just gave her a flat look which she returned with a smile.

"When I say I do something," I stated with a small smile as the laser began to open my way out.

"You do it." Amata finished holding out the wooden box. "This is a Wasteland survival kit that I found a few years back, you're going to need it." She stated holding out the box, I smiled already knowing what was inside. Twenty Stimpacks, Twenty injectors of MedX, Bandages, Three Doctors Bags, a nine millimetre Glock 17 with three clips of ammo, a single pair of blackout goggles and finally a canteen for water. They were standard in every Vault and I was probably was going to need all of that, the Wasteland kit took up the last of the space in my pack. The door opened, revealing a cavern with skeletons right outside of the Vault door, I turned and looked at my old friend.

"Well I guess I'll be seeing you." That statement was made with a smile on my face, this didn't feel like a final goodbye, more like an 'I'll see you later.' Amata seemed to agree, if her smile was anything to go by as she helped me push a crate in front of the normal entrance to the room. Even if the morons on the other side got that key they still wouldn't be able to get the door open fast enough to stop me. That was probably a good thing, I didn't really want to kill any more of them. I would do it if I had to but I would prefer not to, not in front of Amata.

"Sure, you take care of yourself until we see each other again okay." Amata stated with a smile before she vanished back into the passage we had both come out of and closed it off. The smile never left my face as I walked outside of the Vault for the first time in my life the skeletons were surrounded by signs reading things like 'Help us!' and 'We're dying out here assholes!' I hit the button to seal the Vault from the outside and gave the two security officers a quick wave as they finally made it through the door only to see the giant metal door of Vault 101 closing and my smiling face. The gigantic door swung closed with a thunderous crash and I sighed, well no time like the present to actually get started.

The first thing I did was open that Wasteland Survival Kit and take out the goggles, I had read a bit about how my eyes would have to re-adapt to natural sunlight and this would take quite some time. No point in getting out of the Vault with my life if I simply went blind right after I left the cave that it was seemingly situated in. I pulled them over my eyes and took my time to adjust to the new lack of light before moving on to the next order of business. That one happened to be changing my clothes, pulling off the Vault suit didn't take long and to be honest I felt better wearing the Vault security armour anyway. Kind of felt like I should have charged whoever was in the Vault security room though, they got a free showing of my entire body if they were watching the cameras. Besides considering that I would probably be walking long distance over rough terrain the boots were a welcome addition. More than that though was the fact that while it didn't have a holster for a gun the vest that went over top did have pockets for pistol magazines.

I quickly changed the Contender over for the Glock in the Wasteland Survival Kit placing the spare three magazines into pockets on the vest in easy reach should I need them. I had to carry the gun but that wasn't really such a huge problem, I hadn't wanted to swap the nightsticks over for one of the Ten millimetre pistols I had picked up earlier because the pockets of the normal Vault suits were not large enough to fit a magazine into. Now that problem was solved I had no problem placing them into my backpack and relying on the nine mill, honestly I had more bullets for the ten mill but the nine was easily in better condition. Chances were I could fix up one of the ten millimetre pistols by cannibalising the others that I had making it equal to the nine millimetre in terms of condition but I lacked the tools so that was a no go. I stretched and gave one last look at the Vault door before existing the cave through a rough wooden door and stepped out into the wastes.

I would love to tell you that walking out into the wasteland made me feel small and insignificant compared against the sheer vast emptiness of the world around me. To be honest I definitely felt some of that, the world I had been taught about inside the Vault, the American Dream had most definitely died a long time ago out here. The endless moaning of the wind a fitting eulogy for its passing. There was no greenery, everything was dry and dusty, I could see rock formations out in the distance as well as Telephone polls that towered over the ruins of what was once probably suburbia. A single rusted water tower standing like a silent guardian over a dead world. Then the feeling was gone, the steel around my mind closing in once again as I assessed the situation.

I had no idea where I was or where to find food or shelter, I had no food or water on me which meant I needed to find some kind of civilisation or I was a dead man. Knowing all of this I walked over to one of the rock formations and sat down laying my pistol down next to me in easy reach. That information I grabbed out of the Overseer's office might have something for me or maybe I'm just hoping for something so I don't die out here. I want to check the message dad left for me but I'm scared and well that's about it to be perfectly honest.

Most of what I found was mostly insane rambling paranoid bullshit to be perfectly honest with you. Well that and his dreams of what I can mostly call complete domination of Vault 101 through constantly telling them his vision and trying to convert everybody to his way of thinking permanently, though brainwashing would probably be a more accurate description, or forming a cult take your pick really.

Then I found it, the so called gold mine! I report from before Amata's father became the Overseer, they had been going outside the Vault before I was born and making contact with a city called Megaton. Listed inside was the cities, well it was more of a town really, coordinates that had been uploaded directly to my Pipboy 3000 giving me not only the towns location but a rough idea of what the surrounding area looked like and a photo of the outside of Megaton.

Standing on top of the rock out cropping it was easy to see the collected pile of junk that passed for Megaton's walls. Fuck, it was still going to be a walk though and one I wasn't exactly looking forward to, even if the people inside may have some kind of information on my fathers whereabouts. Speaking of the old man what was I going to do when I finally found him, well punch him in the gut would definitely be the first thing but what would I do after that. I looked down at my Pipboy again before flicking over to the notes and clicking on the note I had got from Dad, I was still scared but I needed to hear this.

My feet walked down the dusty embankment and on what used to the ash vault of a road, rusted out shells of what used to be cars littering the area. More than one or two skeletons grinning at me from their confines, probably the last remnants of some poor bastards trying to make it into the Vault before the bombs went off. I flick the note to play as I descend further into the ruins of what used to be the town of Springvale if what the Pipboy is telling me is correct. My foot steps echo as my fathers voice plays out from the speaker on my Pipboy.

"Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first." I hear my fathers voice as well as Jonas in the background sound, it sounded like he was getting together some medical gear.

"I... I don't really know how to tell you this. I hope you'll understand, but I know you might be angry. I thought about it for a long time, but in the end I decided it was best for you not to know. So many things could have gone wrong and there's really no telling how the Overseer will react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame everything on me. Obviously you already know that I'm gone. It was something I needed to do. You're an adult now. You're ready to be on your own. Maybe someday things will change and we can see each other again. I can't tell you why I left or where I'm going. I don't want you to follow me. God knows life in the vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe. Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going." Dad sounds like he's going to say more before Jonas cuts in, sounding slightly worried.

"Don't mean to rush you, Doc, but I'd feel better if we got this over with." Jonas voice fills me with a sense of nostalgia and deep regret.

"Okay. Go ahead. Goodbye. I love you."

The recording stops there just as I pass a rusted over sign with the word MEGATON on it and an arrow pointing to the right, an old rusted Nuka Cola machine still standing up right next to it. The buildings didn't look any better up close than they did from a distance, everything inside the town was dead, or if something wasn't then it was doing a damn fine job of hiding.

Springvale, the sign next to the one proclaiming Megaton says in white letters. A dead town is the first thing I come across in this seemingly dead world, not exactly a promising sign but hey it could be worse, someone could be shooting at me right now. Well that's one up side this place has over the Vault at least, no one was trying to kill me, yet at least. Probably best to not jinx that actually, still Megaton was nearby now and that was all that mattered. If the town still existed, and considering I could see the walls from that rock outcropping near the entrance to the Vault I had no reason to believe it wasn't, then the first thing on my list of things to do was sell the stuff in my bag. Then supplies, starting with water and ammo. After that came information gathering on the surrounding area, once all that was done I could start looking for someone who had information on Dad.

The steel around my mind didn't budge in the slightest as the cold logic asserted itself, funny. Under more normal circumstances I would probably be looking for Dad first rather than supplies but the cold steel made me more logical, less ruled by emotion. Less like a human and much more like a machine. Assess every situation and work out what was needed and what wasn't in a logical order, no emotion, no remorse, then move on towards the final objective, find Dad, everything else could be dealt with after that was done.

The rock underneath my boots was hard, not sandy at all. Well at least that meant I wouldn't have to worry about loosing my footing if I had to run. Or at least that's what I assumed, I'd never actually walked on sand before after all only had it mentioned in lectures and such. My right had was still curled around the nine millimetre, thankfully I knew it worked after all I was the one who had done maintenance on it last time. The Maintenance Department was responsible for not only keeping the Vault running but also for making sure that the weapons used by the Security Department were in working order.

The nine millimetre was a Glock 17, the standard nine millimetre that had been put in most Vaults. Vault Security though tended to favour the ten millimetre pistols provided by Vault Tech. On a more personal note I preferred the Glock, it was reliable and damn near idiot proof so all you really had to do was point and shoot. The gun also didn't require as much work to be done to it, or as often, so it was definitely my preferred side arm when put against the Ten Millimetre Vault Tech Pistol. Granted the ten could punch bigger holes in things but the amount of maintenance was also higher, not to mention it wasn't like I had the tools to preform maintenance either so that was another point in the Glock's favour considering it was already in good condition when compared against the ten millimetres, all of which looked like they should have had a request for a tune up put in awhile back.

The ramshackle gates of Megaton, they looked exactly like the picture he had found in the Vault archives, though the Protectron outside seemed somewhat new. The robot was not something I wanted to have a go at, energy weapons were best when dealing with something like them and I don't have any. Still considering it was wearing a cowboy hat, and not shooting at me, it was most likely friendly.

"Welcome to Megaton. Friendliest town around! The bomb is perfectly safe, we promise." The Protectron said right hand moving up in a robotic approximation of a wave. The last part worried me, the bomb is perfectly safe, that was not something that filled me with confidence after all the fact they even felt the need to say something about a bomb worried me.

Getting past the Protectron was easy considering that the robot stood aside to let me in. Well at least that meant the town really was friendly...I think. The Vault report said they were a trading town and they welcomed the original survey team, the people inside happy to trade with anyone. It seemed like that was still true. Or they were luring me in to kill me because the original survey team had fucked them over in one way or another and now they wanted to kill me for revenge. It would be kind of easy to tell if I was a Vault Dweller after all, no one else would be wearing blue and black armour that had 101 written on the back of it.

A turbine from an old plane started as I approached the gates, metal groaning as the two slid apart to reveal a large door of corrugated iron sheets. They were lighter than they appeared, pushing through them wasn't hard and as soon as that was done. I looked upon Megaton for the first time, the town looked just as ramshackle as the outside gave the impression it was. A dirt road that led down to a place called the Temple of Atom which was situated just before an unexploded atomic bomb. Even through the steel surrounding my mind I could feel the shock, the absolute undeniable shock that these people had built a town around an unexploded atomic bomb, the very idea was mind boggling.

The steel closed again and the shock was muted, still there but contained and pushed into a tiny corner of my brain so I could focus on what was important now, supplies, knowledge of the area and finally information on Dad, everything in that order. My focused returned as I spotted a man walking towards me, he was tall, dark skinned, a leather duster on and fingerless gloves, the most interesting feature to me however was the assault rifle strapped to his back, an AK-47 unless I miss my guess. The man smiled good naturedly and I forced my own smile in reply, I knew that it didn't reach my eyes but it was the best I could give him right now. The man looked a little taken back but continued to smile anyway, guess my acting wasn't that good.

"Well I'll be another new comer, names Lucas Simms Town Mayor and Sheriff to, when the occasion arises." The man introduced himself a hand held out for me to shake I didn't take it, doing so would mean putting down my gun after all so I settled for nodding.

"Nice to meet you Sheriff," My voice sounded strange even to my own ears, rough, course and dry. I didn't know why but it was like a stranger was speaking even through it was coming out of my mouth. "I'd shake your hand but I don't have a holster for this." I added nodding down to my gun, another design oversight courtesy of Vault Tech, no handgun holsters on the uniforms of security personal. Lucas looked down and nodded before turning his eyes back to me again.

"Well you're polite at least, that's something." He acknowledged with a smaller, and somehow more honest, smile. "The rules here are very simple friend, keep to your own business and don't bother others, any disputes that you can't solve on your own can be brought to me." Lucas stated with a nod as if reciting a list he had memorised a long time ago but hadn't had to use for awhile. "Understand?" The Sheriff asked, I nodded in return they were simple rules and easy to remember as well that was a good thing as far as I was concerned.

"Understood Sheriff." My rough voice responded. "Can I ask you a few questions?" I inquired and gained a small nod in return. "I need supplies, I've got some things to sell and I need to buy a few things as well."

"Your best bet would be Crater-side Supply, for weapons, clothing and ammunition, for food and water The Brass Lantern or Moriarty's Saloon would be your best bet and if you need healing you can go and see Doc Church, his Clinic is right next to the Brass Lantern down near the bomb." Lucas stated, I nodded okay that was all the information I needed concerning that right now, on to the next, and last, piece of business I had with Megaton's Sheriff.

"You said 'another new comer'" I stated, the course voice still sounding strange to my ears. "I'm looking for my Dad, he would be an older guy with greying hair, name of James, most likely carrying a .44, ring any bells."I inquired, Lucas nodded, good then this was where he came.

"Yep that description sounds familiar," He admitted before pointing up behind him to the building near the top of the south wall. "If your father is the same fella I'm thinking of then you should head on up to Moriarty's Saloon he went in there for information. He left about a day back now." Lucas stated, I nodded in return forcing a smile onto my face once more. From the look on the Sheriff's face it didn't look any better than the last one but hey at least I was trying right? The trail was still warm as well, that was a very good thing. The colder it got the less and less the chance became that I would ever find my father.

"Thank you," The words flowed easily from my mouth, the steel parting around my mind slightly to allowing me to put a very small amount of emotion into my words as I turned away towards Crater-side Supply. That was stop one, stop two was Moriarty's and information on Dad and the surrounding area. After finding out where he went my choices would most likely come down to find work and stock up on supplies before following or just follow straight out of the gate. To keep the trail warm the second option would be preferable but the first option was most likely the better one if I wanted to stay alive long enough to find my old man.

"I didn't catch your name stranger." Lucas called from behind me, I shrugged I wasn't who I was born as any more not with this mind of steel that I possessed now, not after I killed the people I once called my friends and neighbours.

I honestly don't think anyone who has ever killed someone has been able to think about themselves the same way again after.

"Me?" I answered my voice sounding strange but still carrying the upward question like lift at the end. "I'm nobody." The Sheriff didn't seem very happy about the answer but he didn't push, he really was a good man. I took my first steps towards Crater-side Supply and was immediately struck by a sinking feeling, I had always been one to listen to my instincts so this time was no different and the feeling I was getting made me grit my teeth.

This was going to get worse before it got better.

A lot worse.

Those were my first steps out into the monument to the dead world that was the Capital Wasteland, and even then I knew one thing for sure.

I was going to find Dad one way or the other, one bullet at a time.

**Thompson Contender Chapter One End.  
**


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